2015-2017
MAX AND HIS MUSIC
Hi everyone, Max here! Learn more about me from my animated 10-year-old self in "Meet the Composer".
Also featured is an introduction to one of the composition projects I offer to students entitled "Books in Concert".
After you've watched the introduction video, check out the sample final product: my score to the picture book "Ocean Meets Sky"
Finally, enjoy "Dream" and "Cowabunga", two animated shorts I scored for veteran Disney directors Aaron Blaise and James Lopez.
Meet Your Instructor
Meet the Composer: Max Mueller
"Dream" (Music by Max Mueller)
"Cowabunga" (Music by Max Mueller)
ABOUT MAX MUELLER
Max Mueller is a Los Angeles based film composer, educator and performer who has been involved in music education for the past 2 decades. Upon moving to Los Angeles, Max began to establish himself in the film music world by assisting Academy Award nominated composer David Newman on reconstructing and re-engraving older film scores for live performance purposes with various symphony orchestras. Max has also recently orchestrated Newman’s scores for the movies "Girls Trip", "Night School", "Arthur's Whiskey" and the Netflix show "Green Eggs and Ham", produced by Ellen DeGeneres.
Max has composed music for the short films for three veteran Disney animators: Aaron Blaise (director of the 2003 Disney feature Brother Bear), Pixote Hunt (director of the 1994 Fox feature The Pagemaster) and James Lopez.
Max has also scored such feature films as Actual Nobodies (2027, starring Didi Conn) and Summoning Sylvia (2023, starring Frankie Grande).
As a film composer, Max won best score at the New Orleans Horror Film Festival in 2015 for his score to "Trace". Max also organized and crowd funded the first ‘film music’ orchestra ‘flashmob’ at Universal Studios, Hollywood in tandem with American Youth Symphony and Hamilton High School in Los Angeles. The performance highlighted the great Universal Pictures film scores.
Max is a graduate of the Commercial and Media Writing Program at California State University, Northridge, and continues to look for new ways to combine the practical side of music found in performance with the creative side of music found in composing and arranging in music education. Max also continues to bring awareness to the importance of young musicians balancing private instruction and their participation in a community ensemble experience in music performance.
STUDENT TESTIMONIALS
"Working with Max Mueller was a fantastic experience. His lessons gave me the tools that I needed in order to develop my voice, and always adapted to what I was passionate about." - Arturo Orso (Bachelors in Music Composition at Oberlin Conservatory '24)
"I've always had a passion for writing music, and Max has truly showed me the wonders and excitement in film scoring. All the things I wanted to say became less distant. With his guidance in composition, orchestration and score preparation, my confidence has grown immensely." - John Li (Winner in the Leicine Annual Scoring Competition)